The saltbox house at 139 South Main Street in Sheffield was moved to its current location in 1946 from Wethersfield, Connecticut, where it had an address of 191 or 197 Main Street. It is thought to have been built c. 1727 by Jonathan Goodrich, who soon sold it in 1737 to Jonathan Stillman. In 1769 the property was acquired by Silas Deane (1737-1789), but it was not his residence. At the time he was erecting his own house next door at 203 Main Street. A wealthy merchant and lawyer, Deane played a vital role during the Revolutionary War. He was sent abroad by a secret committee of the Continental Congress in 1776 to secure aid from the French government. He later worked closely with Benjamin Franklin to negotiate the treaty of alliance with France that led to the sending of an army under the Comte de Rochambeau to aid George Washington. Together they would win the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Deane’s house in Wethersfield is now part of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum.

Dr. Barwick Bruce, who came to Wethersfield from Barbados, purchased the Goodrich House in 1809. He sold it in 1816 to Dr. Ashbel Robertson (1787-1847). As related in Stiles’ History of Ancient Wethersfield, Vol. I (1904), page 728-729:

Dr. Robertson, for many years, carried on a mechantile business, sold wines and liquors (under a license) and practiced medicine. His store, with roof cut down and a brick front added, is now occupied by Comstock, Ferre & Co., as a seed warehouse, a little further up the same street. The mansion is now occupied by Mr. Austin Robertson, a son of the old doctor [.]

Austin Robertson was for many years the town tax collector and before the turn of the century, Wethersfield residents would come to his house where he accepted payment. In 1909, the house was still owned by Austin Robertson, but by the 1920s, after Robertson passed away, it was owned by E. Hart Fenn, who lived in the Silas Deane House next door. The Red Cross used the Goodrich-Robertson house during World War I. The house was moved to Sheffield in 1946 by a Mr. Tompkins, but its foundations can still be seen on the property of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum. There is also a c. 1910s Wallace Nutting photograph of paneling from the house.

Although Silas Deane did not live in the Goodrich-Robertson House, its former proximity to his Wethersfield home led to to its becoming known as the Silas Deane House. In 1956, ten years after its move to Sheffield, the house was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Jones, who ran an antiques shop in the building. Most recently, the house has been the Blue Door Market & Cafe.